Excerpt: From my years of sharing meditation with others, the notion that meditation equals blissed-out relaxation is one of the most common misperceptions. Although the pausing and breathing associated with meditation can initiate the physiologic relaxation response, relaxation is not necessarily a promised byproduct.

As a relationship with innate awareness matures, so deepens the ability to include and recognize more life experiences – the pleasant with the unpleasant, the empty and the overwhelming. The teachings of mindfulness urge practitioners to maintain equanimity, clarity, patience, and loving care through it all, but at times the emotional tone can feel like too much.

Excerpt: Whether it’s in my backyard garden at sunrise, walking through a busy parking lot to work, or sitting in my car waiting to pick up my kids from school—even the most seemingly mundane moments can reveal something sacred. It continually amazes me how often exactly where I am carries the energetic qualities I need to experience at that time.

For me, the most insightful teaching of this came in the moments after my father’s funeral last year. Sitting quietly, smelling the wafts of fire and incense from the Hindu rituals; seeing my father’s body dressed and adorned for cremation; tasting my tears; hearing family members crying as grandchildren innocently played; feeling into the heaviness in my body as well as the simultaneous sadness and outpouring of love from our entire community—it transformed my grief in a way I couldn’t have imagined that day.-Rashmi Bismark, MD, MPH, Yoga Medicine® instructor

Excerpt: “When we intentionally pay attention to present moment experience with kind curiosity and patience, we create the space to connect with our innate strengths, including creativity,” Bismark says. “When we can bring a loving mindful presence to whatever it is we are doing, we naturally create the conditions necessary for creativity to flow through us.”

Are you a yoga teacher looking to partner with healthcare professionals in your community? Here is a comprehensive series of articles written by Dr. Rashmi for Yoga Medicine by Tiffany Cruikshank to help you start thinking about where to begin.

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